A case in which shame works

Ok, I’ll admit it: I HATE to donate blood. Reason: it affects my endurance; I am usually screwed up for 2-3 weeks after a regular blood donation and for 5-6 weeks after a double red blood cell donation.

Ok, more specifically, doing long running or walking workouts at 5K to half marathon intensity is difficult, though curiously my swimming and lifting is usually not that affected.

But, I have O+ blood (my red blood cells match well with O+, A+, B+ and AB+) and there is a need.

And there is this:

And he says the differences in giving goes beyond money, pointing out that conservatives are 18 percent more likely to donate blood.

Note: I am skeptical of the “giving to charity” statistics (which claim that conservatives give more of their income to charity) given that rural areas are more conservative and urban areas are more liberal and the latter have a higher cost of living (by far!). So to be convinced, I’d have to see the statistics adjusted for cost of living.

But never mind that; the blood donation statistic wouldn’t be as affected by such factors.
And: I don’t like being outdone by conservatives!

Ok, ok, the “blood giving” statistic might be misleading as well; the Red Cross reports that only 38 percent of people are even eligible to give blood. Males who have had gay sex are excluded, as are people who have had certain diseases, lived in Europe for a certain period of time, etc. So for this statistic to be valid as a measure of charity, it would have to be corrected for eligibility.

But hey, it got me there anyway!

So I try to donate twice a year; June (after FANS and Steamboat) and in November/December (after my fall ultra and after my flu vaccination exclusion has had time to lapse; this is 8 weeks).

On the upside: last winter, I couldn’t give double red cells (13.1 hemoglobin) but his time was no problem (14.9); and I AM feeling much better now than I was then.

Note: I still think that the plasma that they put back into you looks like urine.

Note: the results of some studies are here and a bunch of people chime in here.

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